I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.
I know it says it's a mandolin, I think it may actually be a lute. I'm sure one of the learned ones will set me straight.
Last edited by MikeEdgerton; Oct-11-2019 at 3:25pm.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
We in the classical department here call them mandolinos. Really they are sort of a hybrid mandolin, sometimes regional. More info here on wikipedia.
The original baroque mandolino had 6 courses of two strings each. The Lombard is similar but has single string courses.
Here's photos of my 1896 by Serafino Casini.
Jim
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19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
I see them more as a separate evolutionary line of mandolins, a direct descendant of the early gut-strung Baroque mandolins which were really just a very small lute. They lost their double courses around the beginning of the 19th century and evolved into the late 19th century Lombardic or Milanese mandolin, still tuned in fourths. If you look at photos of northern Italian mandolin ensembles from that period there were often as many Lombardic mandolins as Neapolitan mandolins but they were rarely seen after the first world war. Gut strings and wooden tuning pegs would have made then a less attractive option beside a metal string Neapolitan mandolin with mechanical tuners.
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com
The Mandolin Project on building mandolins
The Mandolin-a history
The Ukulele on building ukuleles
I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.
pretty instrument. i doubt i'd play it. seems like a very short scale so i am guessing it was made for gut strings
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